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My tech wants to service (tighten?) the action now and regulate later. Should I have him do both at the same time? Am I wasting my $$ having him service the action now? Will the servicing work disappear once the action is regulated?

Tightening loose screws is necessary before reguation. So make sure you are not paying twice. For future reference, find out why the Tech can't do all the work necessary within a certain time frame. How much later?

When I am servicing an action I usually have a couple of hours to work with. A complete regulation on can a good two days worth of work or about 12-16 hours. It could even take more time if there are issues with repinning and key weighting.

Today I serviced a 20 year old Yamaha G-3 at a church where the local teachers will be conducting adjudications. Hammers had not had any work done in many years, the action was stiff, pedals out of adjustment and a tuning about 20 cents flat. A "servicing" in this case consisted of pitch raising and tuning, lubricating the key pins and bushings, adjusting the pedals, adjusting the damper upstop rail, a light filing of the hammers followed by a little voicing to even up the tone.

It is possible there may be some redundancies if he services the piano now and regulates later. But if the tech keeps track of the work that he does and not too much time lapses in between, the servicing may give him/her a head start on the regulating. Just make sure they really know what they're doing.

How did you find your technician and how do you know they are qualified? From your post, it sounds like your not 100% confident that your tech is serving you well.

JF, with questions like this it really helps if we know how old the piano is, how long it's been since it was serviced, what kind, etc.

If your tech is doing "service" to "get it working" now, and later 're-does' some of the same things in the context of regulation, it's really not 'paying for the same thing twice'. Sorta like changing a tire on the road (the dreaded "donut"...) then changing it later (to a "real" one). You've done the "same thing", but not really...

I'm not saying you shouldn't be conscientious--you, and every other consumer should be, always. Ask questions! Most of us will talk your ears off about pianos!!

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"There is always room above; there is only the ground below."....F.E. Morton (with props to Del F.)